Journey
by Shinigami Hilde
Summary: A walk to remember through the eyes of a hanyou. One-shot/drabble


_Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fic except for the grammar errors. _

Journey

A soft rain fell over the forest, filling the air with the soothing sounds of rain drops pattering softly over autumn kissed leaves. It created a calming atmosphere that even a rough soul like Inuyasha could thoughtfully appreciate while he walked along the forest path alone. The rain had been coming down all day, soaking him clear to the bone, yet somehow he didn't seem to mind it. In fact he was feeling somewhat childish as he splashed his way through puddles and kicked aside piles of wet leaves.

When a few wayward rain drops trickled into his ears, however, he was forced to stop and shake himself off in a doggish manner! Whipping that thick mop of silvery white hair until it became an utterly tangled mess! Though he didn't really care about that much as he pawed a few locks out of his face. Unlike his elder brother, Inuyasha was not one for vanity, he never primped and preened his hair and really wondered what was the point of trying? To spend an hour brushing your hair till every strand falls perfectly into place, only to mess it up again later. Such a foolish waste of time!

From beneath the shadows of his scruffy bangs his golden eyes shimmered softly as they followed the muddy forest path ahead of him. Though he did not have to look too far as the path abruptly stopped before a wall of thorns and briars. The wall stood several meters in the air and stretched out beyond the trees that lined the path. It looked formidable and impregnable. An effective road block to the common traveler.

However…he was far from a common traveler.

Wiping the corner of his sleeve over his face the hanyou took a moment to study the wall, more importantly, study the tall majestic trees that stood to either side of it. In their out stretched braches he saw his path; and as a little smirk drew over his boyish face he started towards that path. A clawed hand clasped around the Tetsusaiga at his hip, finding comfort in the feel of the polished scabbard beneath his finger tips. Holding that grip as he bounced onto the balls of his feet and broke into a brisk sprint.

Every stride was powerful yet effortless. He swiftly crossed the muddy ground without so much as slip. Springing off into the air in a powerful leap that carried him into the branches of an old maple his bare toes dug into the moss covered bark for purchase so he could weave through the near skeletal branches. His movements barely sending a shiver through the old flora while he climbed through and leapt for the next tree.

Building speed with every stride and every bound he whisked himself from one tree to another. To the causal observer he'd be little more than a brief blur of red speeding by above their heads. With expertise born from years of experience he whisked himself through the branches at a break neck pace, sure of every step and every hand hold along the way.

When a particularly ancient tree rose from the forest canopy with limbs tall enough to touch the sky he headed right for it! Racing up along it's thick trunk, his claws scraped at the rain soaked bark as he half ran, half climbed as fast as he could. A flush of warmth swept over his body as he reached the top and gathered his own youki about him for one mighty leap!

Through sheer momentum and his own innate demonic power he burst through the top of the tree in a violent swirl of leaves and twigs, trailing crimson and silvery white as he reached for the clouds above. Allowing himself to be caught in his own youki that formed below his feet and carried him along like a leaf on the winds. A smile that not even the persistent rain could wash away, broadened over his face as the exhilaration blew over him.

It was these moments of freedom, this feeling of soaring through the clouds that he savored so much. This was as close as he could ever come to flying and as he drew his arms out to his sides he gazed down to the forests below him. From this vantage he could see everything as he floated along, including where the forests gave way to the rice fields. Each one a neatly cut square in the earth, all coming together to form a patchwork of hand tilled land, all long since stripped barren with the last of the harvest.

Though his interest lay not in the rice fields but the humble village just beyond them. From his dwindling height he could see the smoke from dozens of cooking fires rising from the small but quaint village ahead of him.

His destination.

Turning his face to the chill autumn wind he road that demonic aura down to those same stripped fields. Dissolving the youki he managed to land lightly on the muddy trail that would lead him right to the village.

Not wasting a single moment he sprung off in a swift sprint once more, his feet instinctively finding the best foot holds despite pooling rain water and mud. Continuing at full stride, his golden eyes were drawn ahead to the village as it came into better. Where the muddy path opened up, traveled along by a few souls brave enough to be out in this weather, was where he wanted to be.

Slowing himself down he passed the villagers giving them a barest of looks in greeting, rude as that was of him. Though thankfully the village folk were quite used to his poor manners by now and did not really care. In return he didn't much care either, though deep down there was that small sense of gratitude he felt for them. These were the only people he'd ever met that accepted him without really knowing him. It was something he never really thought about but also never took for granted as he reached the end of the path.

The village itself was little more than a few modest huts clustered together with a single watch tower in it's center, all in all it was relatively unremarkable. Yet to him it was the center of his world.

Because for him, this place was important.

For it was here that everything for him had begun. In this village he'd loved, he lost and he loved again. This village was where his friends took root and started their own lives. In this village there was a small hut built by his own two hands and inside that hut was woman he hoped to live with for the rest of his life.

Sitting in the door way with a basket of the days gatherings beside her, Kagome kept silent watch for his return. How long she had been waiting there he may never know, though once their eyes met she gave him a smile that warmed even his autumn chilled flesh. A smile he faintly returned as he called out the words that still sounded so funny to his ears, yet meant so much to his heart.

"I'm home."

_~*~Owari~*~_


End file.
